Brunch made better: Sunday mornings may become Selanne’s favorite time of week – or at least mine

Story by MARRIE STONE

Photography by Jeffrey Rovner

Selanne Steak Tavern has long been on my short list of special occasion spots in town. Since its opening five years ago, it’s the place where I’ve celebrated birthdays, Father’s Days, anniversaries and “just because” evenings out. Life’s too short and uncertain, I’ve decided, to delay gratification. And Selanne is one of those places that make indulgence worth every bite.

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Brunch is served with style at Selanne

So imagine my delight when I heard they’d begun offering my favorite meal: Sunday brunch. It’s the one meal that dares you not to spoil yourself. Sensible salads are for weekdays. Brunch is for elaborate benedicts and sticky desserts masquerading as breakfast. And, if you’re not holding a cocktail before noon, there’s a feeling you’re missing out on something.

Consistent with our calorie conscious town, however, there are plenty of light and healthy options on Selanne’s menu. And enough mocktails, French pressed coffee, and assorted teas to make you feel part of the festive crowd.

Now that the brunch is entering its seventh week, Chef Joshua Severson and his team of creatives, including a dedicated pastry chef and masterful bartender, have had time to perfect every dish, and the results are delicious.

Eating in style

If you’re familiar with Selanne, you’ll know its warm cottage charm. The building is beautiful, the architecture straight from high-end magazines with well appointed furniture, dramatic chandeliers, and cozy nooks and corners. What I love about the space are all the options – their rooftop deck and spacious outdoor veranda, that wonderful European bar and statement staircase, the quiet wine cellar. I love the outdoor fireplace. I love the entry wishing well. Whatever your mood, whatever the weather, they’ve created an intimate setting that accommodates it.

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Brunch is better this way…along with warm cottage charm

Because I’ve never met a breakfast dish I don’t like, I allowed our server Stephen Ronnow to design my meal. I watched Stephen work over the menu like a composer arranging a symphony, mixing sweet and savory, crunchy and smooth. I started with an amuse bouche and pastry basket, moved to an avocado toast, and then onto the main meal – chicken and waffles and “Kevin’s” Bananas Foster French Toast (“Kevin” is co-owner, Kevin Pratt, who was dining at a table nearby. Hats off for designing this creative dish, Kevin). As almost an afterthought, Stephen added hash browns au gratin, a dish I haven’t stopped thinking about since.

The beauty of breakfast drinks

In addition to a full bar, there are a few creative cocktails on Selanne’s menu. The Diablo is a specialty of bartender Neil. Casa Amigos Blanco Tequilla, lemon, crème de cassis, and ginger ale. I’m going back for that one.

I opted for my usual breakfast drink, the “Breakfast of Champions Bloody Mary.” As the name implies, it’s more than a drink…it’s a breakfast. Garnished with a jumbo fresh shrimp, a plump olive, a tiny pearl onion, and a thick slice of lime, I could have been happy drinking my brunch. Thankfully, though, this time it was only an add-on.

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Breakfast of Champions Bloody Mary and pastries – so good

My favorite thing about Selanne’s drink menu is their offering of a mimosa flight. Selanne’s serves an array of fresh flavors – blood orange, peach, cherry, mango – and allows guests to mix and match. If you’re dining with a large party, or you’re up for drinking a bottle of champagne on your own, the table can try all the various flavors. Assuming you have nowhere to be on a Sunday afternoon, this isn’t a bad way to while away the morning.

The sweet…

Selanne’s pastry chef is a master of whimsy. Her creations are seasonal, using fresh and local ingredients. The artisan breadbasket included a blackberry scone, lemon Danish, bear claw, blueberry muffin, and a chocolate croissant. The mixture of fruit against chocolate, crumbly muffins against flaky croissants, all of it light and airy, made for a wonderful way to wait for the main course.

But Kevin’s Banana Foster French Toast took the prize for me, and I’m rarely a fan of the overtly sweet dish. The bananas were marinated in Kahlua. The French Toast was thick, crispy and perfectly soaked. Best yet, Selanne’s uses mascarpone whip that acts as the ice cream, creating a gooey sandwich of spiked flavors. I haven’t tried anything like this one.

And the savory

I gravitate toward the savory, and Selanne’s has plenty of options to accommodate – the brunch burger (with wagyu beef and pork belly, topped with an egg), the Selanne Benedict (with Nueske’s ham), and my usual favorite – the cured salmon scramble with crème fraîche.

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Avocado toast – it’s really all about the bread and the combination of flavors

I consider myself a kind of avocado toast connoisseur. For me, it’s all about the bread, which can make or break this breakfast staple. Anyone can smash an avocado on a piece of toast. Here, it’s the combination of flavors – lemon, espelette pepper and slices of pickled radish – that make it something special. The citrus and spice is a wonderful blend. Not to mention the sunny-side egg that tops the dish.

I don’t know whether chicken and waffles fall into the sweet or savory category, but the perfect blend of both is made better by the preparation of the chicken. Even though it’s fried, the batter is so light and airy that it lacks the heavy grease I usually associate with fried chicken. Better yet…the meat inside. It’s a tender, juicy rotisserie chicken breast. A single bite remained that I absolutely couldn’t finish. I shamelessly asked to take it home, knowing it wouldn’t make a meal, but it would still make a memory.

But, for some reason, the dish I continue to return to in my mind is the hash browns au gratin. Perhaps because by the time I got to it, I was far too full to finish it. It was “the dish that got away.” The few forkfuls I had make this side alone worth coming back to finish. The Yukon gold potatoes are topped with a thick layer of crucolo cheese and scallions. It’s a perfect combination of potatoes au gratin and hash browns. How this is done, I couldn’t possibly tell you, but the result is magnificent.

An evolution of flavors and creations

Selanne’s is committed to constant evolution—with the seasons and with their own creative energy. The addition of Sunday brunch is a great example of their willingness and ability to stretch their menu and meet new culinary trends, all with their own artistic imagination.

Co-owner Kevin Pratt says, “We’re extremely happy to add Sunday brunch to our offerings, and I’m proud of Chef Josh and his team for delivering creative twists on classic brunch dishes. We’re having fun with the menu and it will continue to evolve.”